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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

U.S. Woman Attempts to Smuggle Arsenal to Mexico

A U.S. woman was arrested by Mexican authorities for trafficking in weapons while traveling with a child. The PGR found inside her car a shipment of weapons that were allegedly introduced to Mexico illegally.

Federal prosecutors filed charges in a federal court against "Veronica Alvarez Toscano for her probable responsibility in the commission of the crime of violation of the law for possession of firearms under her control and smuggling the weapons within the national territory of Mexico," testified the Mexican officials.

The arrest occurred in Sonora, when customs agents were searching her car found 41 AK-47 rifles "cuernos de chivo," a Colt .50-caliber rifle and a telescopic sight, among other different types of arsenal.

The woman and the child in her custody originated from in the state of Florida, USA.

Between 2007 and 2008, the Mexican government has seized 16,000 assault weapons, of which 90% have came from the U.S., according to Mexican official figures.

In the southern U.S. border authorities have estimated that there have been around 10,000 cases where weapons have been sold.

The Mexican government has on several occasions said that some of the violence is fueled from high caliber weapons that drug dealers get from the U.S. Mexican authorities have insisted that the government in the U.S. do more to slow the flow of weapons trafficking.

The authorities have maintain that one way for the drug cartels to get weapons is to hire third party people who make purchases of weapons in the United States.